Windows on Iran 92

Keep spreading the word about the September 18th "Ruz-i Qods" Green Rally!!! Please post this flyer to your blog, facebook page, or website. And, see below for lots of new and important information!

Dear All,

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All signs point to the fact that difficult – and decisive – days may be ahead in Iran. But the good news first. For years, Iranians who are ranked as number four bloggers in the world, have been prevented from visiting the sites that the Iranian government has considered containing information contrary to its interests and filtered. Those who devised creative ways to break the filter and get into such sites, are usually in danger of being found and subjected to jail and other punishments.

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What is most amazing is that the Iranian government considers the existence of undesirable websites as “foreign interference” in its internal affairs.

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Well, this state of affairs may have been ended once and for all. Using Google, an Iranian by the name Mehdi Saharkhiz has come up with an internet tool which he has called the “Green Machine”

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The Green Machine! Good News for the Greens in Iran

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* Here is the site that gives you instruction for downloading the Green Machine. According to Mr. Mousavi’s facebook page, after you download the Green Machine, you can visit any website – filtered or otherwise – without being detected: http://greenmachine.s3.amazonaws.com/green.html.

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Latest Friday Sermon by the Supreme Leader

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* On the morning of Friday, September 11, Mr. Khamenei delivered his latest Friday sermon affirming his earlier position that the election had been a great success and that any protests will be dealt with harshly. It is not quite clear what is his definition of “harsh” as, death, torture, and forced confessions have all been tried already. Anyway, this is the response he got from the residents of Tehran in the evening:

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Breaking News

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* Dr. Ali Reza Beheshti, Professor of Political Science in Tehran University and chief consultant of Mr. Mousavi’s election campaign, who continued his efforts by heading the group that Mousavi formed to follow up on physical abuses in the Iranian jail, has just been arrested. Mr. Mousavi issued a statement (no.12) to condemn the arrest. He predicts that other grave attacks are on the way: http://www.rahesabz.net/story/1301/. For the English translation on Mousavi’s Facebook, visit: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=134451867605&ref=mf.

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Former Reformist Presidential Candidate Mehdi Karroubi

* There are strong – unconfirmed – rumors that the Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has already issued the order for the arrest of the reformist leader and presidential candidate Mr. Mehdi Karrubi.  While this is a very likely move at this point, it is also possible that the rumor is spread in order to test the public reaction.

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Ahmadinejad Will Not be Invited to the Party

* President Obama’s spokesperson has made it clear that in his journey to the U.S. to speak in the United Nations this month, Mr. Ahmadinejad will NOT be invited to the official party that the United States will throw for the world leaders.

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Abdol Kareem Soroush Speaks Up

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Leading Islamic intellectual Dr. Abdol Kareem Soroush (or, Dr. Abdulkarim Soroush).

* The renowned Iranian reformist thinker, Dr. Abdol Kareem Soroush who has been controversial with his criticism of the Islamic Republic over the past two decades, has written an open letter to the Supreme Leader. The letter criticizes the leader for his response to the protests and predicts the fall of what Soroush calls “Islamic Dictatorship”: http://www.rouydadnews.com/pages/150.php.

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The Green Day Coming

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* The first day Iranians will have an opportunity to walk out and show their opposition is Friday September 18. It is traditionally know as the Qods Day in support of the Palestinians. However, there are already indications that this year Sept. 18 will be a Green Day more than anything else. Mr. Mousavi’s facebook has

posted this: Green Mousavi Banner on Highway Bridge!

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A Beautiful New Song for the Green Movement

* Iran’s poets and artists continue to celebrate the Green Movement. Here is the latest song. The lyrics are by Houshang Ebtehaj “Sayeh,” one of the most acclaimed ghazal writers of contemporary Iran:

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Another Iranian Woman Artist

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A beautiful painting by Nasrin Khosravi. Please click the link to the left for more of her wonderful work.

* Because, I opened this window with an anxious tone, and because I am preparing it on the tragic day of September 11, I would like to close it with the soothing watercolor work of an Iranian woman painter, Nasrin Khosravi, who – in this series of paintings – has celebrated peace and serenity with images of people, flowers, doves, and more. Click here for a presentation of her work: Nasrin Khosravi Paintings. Enjoy!

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Don’t forget to share https://windowsoniran.wordpress.com/ with friends.

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Good Night,

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Fatemeh

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===================================
Fatemeh Keshavarz, Professor and Chair
Dept. of Asian and Near Eastern Languages and Literatures
Washington University in St. Louis
Honorary Co-Chair, Iranians For Peace
Tel: (314) 935-5156
Fax: (314) 935-4399
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Windows on Iran 10

Iranian-American Dr. Lily Afshar is considered to be one of the worlds best female guitar players. More recently, she has also began playing the Persian instrument setar (see below for more information).

Greetings everyone,

I hope you have all had a great weekend. Many thanks for all your kind notes and for joining the listserv. I received enthusiastic comments about the calligraphy exhibit that I sent in window number 9. I am glad you enjoyed them and will keep an eye open from more calligraphic works I can send.

As usual, please give me about two weeks to get back to you if you have any questions. If you send me a kind note of support or ideas for future windows, I might not be able to respond simply because of the volume of correspondence. Please forgive me. I do read all your e-mails with great interest. If you signed on during the past two days, you will get this window (and the previous windows, if you asked for them) with a day or two delay. Again, that is because it usually takes JoAnn and I a couple of days to process new requests.

Current Issues:

* I did not find Iran in the headlines (itself amazing news).
Instead, I attach an informative interview with Dr. Trita Parsi
the US-based scholar on Iran (and the current President of NIAC).
He talks about the position of Iranian politicians, the executive
powers of the Iranian President, and possibilities of diplomatic
solutions to the nuclear standoff, among other things:
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1543504,00.html

Iranian Americans:

* The prominent Iranian American I would like to introduce to you
this week is again a musician. This is, in fact, one of the top
female classical guitar players in the world, Dr. Lily Afshar.
Born and raised in Iran, Lily Afshar completed her graduate work
in music at the Boston Conservatory. She has been teaching in
University of Memphis since 1989 and, at the same time, has been
performing internationally. More recently, she has started the
Persian instrument setar. To see a picture of Lily Afshar and read
about her achievements, click on:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lily_Afshar
Isfahan Slide Show:

* As you can see I have not forgotten the slide show I promised last
week on the historic city of Isfahan. After I sent my slide show
on Shiraz, a friend wrote that he included the topic of Shiraz in
one of his lectures so he could share the slides with his
students. I hope you find the slides of Isfahan equally beautiful
and usable in the classroom. Just click here: Beautiful and Historic City of Isfahan, Iran.

Naqsh-e Jahan Square in the historic city of Isfahan.

A Major Contemporary Persian Ghazal Writer:

*Reference to Persian poetry usually evokes thought of classical figures such as Omar Khayyam, Hafez and Rumi. From time to time, the modern verse of Forough Farrokhzad, Ahmad Shamlu and others of their generation becomes available in English. Twentieth century Iranian poets are known almost exclusively for their reformist tendencies that transformed classical genres into what Iranians now call ‘shi’re now,’ literally “new poetry.” In this poetry, figures such as Farrokhzad introduced wonderfully fresh ideas which were not considered fit for poetry before. In the poem “From darkness,” for example, Farrokhzad wrote:
I  called you
my whole being held in my hands
like a bowl of milk
the moon glanced blue on the panes
The fact that is almost entirely unknown outside Iran — because
very little translation has been done — is that twentieth century
Iran has great ghazal writers some comparable to Sa’di and Hafiz
only writing their ghazals in a new poetic language. Houshang
Ebtehaj with pen name Sayeh (b. 1927) is one such master poet. For
a recent photo of Ebtehaj during a poetry reading click on
http://saamhouse.co.uk/gallery/archives/000029.php#000029 . Despite
the imposing look, and his reputation as a poet with political and
social comittment, Ebtehaj has a vast quantity of gentle lyric
poetry in ghazal form (as well as many in modern poetry). To my
knowledge, there are no English translations of these ghazals. If
you read Persian click on
http://www.easypersian.com/houshang_ebtehaj/sineh_sardan.htm to
see a couple of the ghazals in Persian (and a short and basic
biography in English).

* On the topic of classical persian poetry, if you are interested in
reading stories from Firdowsi’s classical epic Shahnameh/The Book
of Kings as comic books, click on:
http://www.hyperwerks.com/series/rostam_chara1.html (courtesy of
Ladan Foroughi).

Iranian Cinema:

* Iranian women’s most recent international achievements have
included the movie “Friday Evening,” Mona Zandi’s directional
debut, which won the special jury prize in Cologne film Festival
last week: http://www.payvand.com/news/06/oct/1170.html.  In fact,
the festival dedicated an entire section to Iranian women film
makers. On the topic of cinema, another Iranian (this time male)
director Azizollah Hamidnejad won the Tegernsee Award for his film
“Tears of Cold” in the Mountain Film Festival held in Germany,
Oct. 18-22.

Visual Delight:

* I leave you with two oil paintings by the young painter Adel
Younesi. The theme of both is street side peddlers. I find them
both delightful: http://www.elahe.net/photo.php?picid=3474 and
another one on the same theme
http://www.elahe.net/photo.php?picid=3473

Have a great week.
Fatemeh
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Fatemeh Keshavarz, Professor and Chair
Dept. of Asian and Near Eastern Languages and Literatuares
Washington University in St. Louis
Tel: (314) 935-5156
Fax: (314) 935-4399
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